Lifting jack



G. LANE LIF'IING .mcx

July 15 1924.

Filed Dec. 29. 1923 Qwuanloa fiearje Lane aw; MM

Patented July 15, 1924.

UNITED STATES GEORGE LANE, OF POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK.

LIFTING JACK.

Application filed December 29, 1923. Serial No. 683,473.

T all whom it may come m.

Be it known that I, GEORGE LANE, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Pouglikeepsie, in the county of Dutohess and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in LiftingJacks, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention is a continuation in part of and contains claimsdivided out of a prior application filed by me in the United StatesPatent Oflice on the 19th day of March, 1923, Serial Number 626,205. Thepresent application concerns more particularly the handle constructionand the invention aims to provide a hand lever for jacks which shall beof sufficient length to enable the ready placement of the ack and itseasy operation, which can be easily and quickly folded to permit itsinsertion in a tool box, and yet which, in use, will be strong andrigid.

The invention further aims to provide such a hand lever or handle havinglocking elements for firmly holding the handle sections in folded orextended position, which locking elements are permanent parts of thehandle sections or members and can be manipulated by stresses applied tosaid handle members at right angles to the plane of action of saidlever.

The invention also aims to provide a folding handle, the members ofwhich may be held at an angle to each other when desired, as forinstance when operating over uneven ground or under other conditionswhere it might not be possible with a straight handle to push it downsufficiently to enable the pawls to properly engage the lifting bar.

lVith these and other objects in view, the invention includes the novelfeatures of construction and arrangement and combination of partshereinafter described, the nature and scope of my invention beingdefined and ascertained by the claims appended hereto.

hat I at present consider the best embodiment of my invention isillustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a complete jack with the handle in jackoperating position and with the handle shown in straight and angularpositions by full and dotted lines respectively.

Fig. 2 is a detail showing the handle in edge View.

Figs. 3, l and 5 are views illustrating a slight modification.

Referring by reference characters to these figures, the jack proper maybe of any desired construction, adapted to be operated by the pumpingaction of the hand lever or handle, that shown in the drawings being theone which forms the subject of the application above referred to andbeing of the reversing type. It comprises briefly a base 1, standard 2,lifting bar 3, and handle receiving socket lever 9 adapted to detachablyreceive the hand lever extension 10. The pumping action of the handle,through pawl mechanism not shown herein, actuates the lifting bar, andthe reversal of the jack is effected by a rocking plate connected bylink 21 to the handle member 10 and operated by longitudinal movement ofsaid member in its socket, all as fully set forth in my applicationaforesaid.

In order to make the handle extension long enough to enable it to beused to place and remove the jack and to facilitate the raising of heavyloads, and also that it may be folded up to fit within the ordinary toolbox, I provide an extension member 10 articulated to the member 10 by atransverse pivot pin or bolt 25 passing through alining open ings in theoverlapping parts. 7 The pivot pin is made longer than the combinedthickness of the two handle members, and the projecting portion of thepin is surrounded by a coil spring 26, confined between a head on thebolt and the outer face of member 10 so that the spring tends constantlyto press the two members 10 and 10 together. The pivot opening in member10* is positioned some little distance from the inner end thereof (lefthand end, Fig. 2) and said member 10" is provided with two holes orrecesses 10 and 10, on opposite sides of and equi-distant from the pivotpin, which are designed to alternately engage with a looking projection10 on member 10, according to whether the handle is in folded orunfolded position, thus locking the parts firmly in either of thesepositions.

By holding the section 10, for example, rigidly, and applying pressureto the member 10 in the proper direction, as indicated by the arrow,Fig. 2, the member 1O Will fulcrum on the end of member 10 and thelocking projection will be disengaged from its recess, the spring 26yielding to permit such movement. The extension member 10 may then beswung around on pivot pin 25 to the proper position. It will thus beseen that the spring 26 serves normally to keep the projection 1O inlooking engagement with either recess 1O or 10", but yields to permitthe disengagement and re-engagement thereof.

If an angular upward deflection of the extension member 10 is desired toproduce a bent handle efiect, the pin 10 may be brought to bear on theupper edge of the inner or left hand end of the extension, as shown inFig. 2 in dotted lines, and in such position can be used to manipulatethe jack effectually, as the weight of the load on the lifting bar tendsto keep the handle raised.

In some cases a wider range of angular adjustment may be desired. Insuch cases I provide the member 10 with two holes 6 and b, one locatedabove the other, the projection 1O being positioned correspondinglynearer the lower edge of the bar, so that with the lower hole b inengagement with the projection, the handle extension is locked instraight position, as shown in Fig. 1, while with the upper hole I) inengagement with the projection the handle extension is locked in angularposition as shown in Fig. 4:, and with the top edge of the end of theextension bearing against the under face of the projection a stillfurther angular adjustment is secured, as shown in Fig. 5.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A folding handle for lifting jacks com prising a pair of handlemembers having overlapping parts provided with alining openings, a pivotpin passing through said openings and having a head spaced from one ofsaid members, and spring means interacting between said head and saidlast named member tending to keep said members pressed against eachother, one of said members having a projection spaced from said pivotpin and the other a locking recess to receive said. pin.

2. A folding handle for lifting jacks comprising a pair of handlemembers having overlapping parts provided with alining openings, a pivotpin passing through said openings, a spring encircling said pivot pinand normally pressing said members together, one of said members havinga projection spaced from the pivot pin and the other, a locking recessto receive said projection.

A folding handle for lifting jacks comprising a pair of handle membershaving overlapping parts provided with alining openings, a pivot pinpassing through said openings, a spring encircling said pivot pin andnormally pressing said. members together, one of said members having aprojection spaced from the pivot pin and the other a pair of recessesequally spaced on opposite sides of said pivot pin to selectivelyreceive said projection to lock the members in folded or unfoldedposition.

4-,. A folding handle for lifting jacks comprising a pair of handlemembers having overlapping parts provided with alining openings, a pivotpin passing through said openings and having a head spaced from one ofsaid members, and spring means interacting between said head and saidlast named member tending to keep said members pressed against eachother, one of said members having a projection spaced from the pivot pinand the other a pair of overlying recesses to selectively receive saidprojection.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature.

GEORGE LANE.

